As part of a healthy lifestyle, physicians and other health and fitness professionals are advising people to make exercise a part of their daily routine. A comprehensive fitness plan may include both cardiovascular and strength training or resistance-based regimens, and can target a number of different muscle groups. Increasingly, fitness professionals are advising people to develop a well-defined and strengthened “core,” not only because the appearance of a tight stomach is considered desirable, but because a healthy core also promotes overall health and wellness.
Historically, stand-alone exercises have been used to strengthen the core muscles and develop a tight stomach. In the case of both sit-ups and crunches, care must be taken to perform the exercise properly, or the person risks injury. Fitness equipment has also been developed to target the abdominal muscles. For instance, fitness centers and gyms offer a variety of exercise devices that can target the core, and may reduce the risk of injury to users. Unfortunately, such machines are often large and difficult to operate. Thus, such machines are often ineffective or impractical for home use.
One proposed solution for making core training equipment accessible is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,611,445 to “Brown,” and which is commercially available under the AB COASTER name. Brown discloses an exercise machine that purports to “work the abdominal and oblique muscle groups and isolate the upper and lower abdominal muscles in a biometrically neutral position.” In particular, an exercise device in Brown includes front and rear supports with a track extending therebetween. An upper body support is attached to the front support and a sled that includes a knee pad slides along the track. The track may be arcuate in shape.
In addition, other abdominal or other exercise devices include those in U.S. Pat. No. 7,232,404, U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,633, U.S. Pat. No. 7,485,079, U.S. Pat. No. 7,585,263, U.S. Pat. No. 7,611,445, U.S. Pat. No. 7,651,446, U.S. Pat. No. 7,662,076, U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,637, U.S. Pat. No. D598,965, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0259760, as well as exercise devices sold under the trade names “AB CIRCLE PRO” and “AB CIRCLE MINI.”